This struck me particularly because Daniel is currently fascinated by music and singing, and is regularly asking me to sing his favourite songs. As this coincides with an increasingly sophisticated understanding of other people, and how the world works in general I kind of have this sense that this is the point at which I should be teaching him the Great Songs of our Tribe; except that - as described in the first paragraph - our 'tribe' doesn't really seem to have any. He certainly enjoys "The Wheels on the Bus", "Sing a Song of Sixpence" etc. but I do feel a little sad that I don't have anything more significant to pass on.
[1] Obviously, this won't necessarily be true of those readers who are regular churchgoers (or folk-music participants?), but even they won't necessarily find themselves at the end of their lives surrounded by others who know the same songs.
